A Life Unlived
by remote mine
Summary: AU Squinoa. Squall transfers to Balamb Garden, and meets someone there. R for language and certain situations. (Hopefully) Not an initial lovehate relationship or ‘fated.’
1. New Beginnings

**A Life Unlived** by remote_mine

Summary: AU *Squinoa* Squall transfers to Balamb Garden, and meets someone there. R for language and certain situations. (Hopefully) Not an initial love/hate relationship or 'fated.'

Balamb Garden, 0800 hours BT (Balamb Time)

A young man exited his car in the parking lot near Balamb Garden. He was a brown-haired, blue eyed teenager that had one single clean scar across his forehead. His given name was Squall Leonhart, but he had no knowledge of his parents. What he knew of his past was that he had been raised in an orphanage and then placed into Galbadia Garden, and, after excelling in virtually every subject and topping the best, was going to take the SeeD test at Balamb Garden. He sighed as he finished unloading his luggage from the car, looking at the impressive structure right in front of him.

_A new start. A new life._

Carrying his few luggage bags, he glanced at the entrance and walked toward it, wondering exactly what had driven him to want to be a SeeD of all things. The bitter coldness of the morning forced him to wrap his leather jacket around himself tighter, and caused his cheeks to flush a slight pink. Frowning, he walked into the Garden and was hit by a sudden rush of noise from the students.

_Must be right before classes start_.

Looking around, he took note of the directory and walked over to it, finding that the destination that he was seeking was on the third floor: the Headmaster's Office.

He waited impatiently in the elevator, tapping his foot as it ascended up from the bottom floor up to the Headmaster's Office. As the elevator gave off a tone and the doors opened, he got off and walked over to the secretary.

"Is Headmaster Cid in?" His voice was indifferent and emotionless.

"Just a minute. Name and reason for seeing the Headmaster?"

"Squall Leonhart, transferring from Galbadia Garden to Balamb Garden to take the SeeD examination."

She pushed a button, spoke into the intercom and listened to the response. "Go right in, Mr. Leonhart. He's expecting you."

He took in the surroundings of the office and looked at the plainness of the office; there were a few pieces of furniture, but that was all. No personal items could be seen on the Headmaster's desk. The room screamed of a military strictness.

"Ah, Squall Leonhart. We were hoping that you would come." Headmaster Cid was a man that seemed to be not much older than forty. He wore glasses and gazed interestedly at the folder that contained Squall's report from Galbadia Garden. "Well, I must say that I'm impressed at what you've accomplished at Galbadia Garden. You were at the top of your classes and also excelled at using the gunblade."

_Oh shit, I don't want to be the center of attention_. "The gunblade is my weapon specialty, sir."

Headmaster Cid leaned forward in his chair. Picking up a few items on his desk, he handed Squall the keycard for his dorm plus his schedule, explaining where and how to use the keycard and also listed the rules that the students had to obey or else risk being expelled from Balamb Garden. Concluding, he said, "Welcome to Balamb Garden. I hope that you enjoy your stay here, and good luck with the SeeD examinations. We really need another gunblade specialist in the SeeD ranks."

"Thank you, sir."

"Dismissed."

With that final command, Squall left the office, eager to drop off his luggage at his dorm and get to his classes.

Glancing into his dorm room, the first thing he noticed was the lack of space. It was a cramped room, with barely enough room for a bed and a desk. The showers were down the hall, shared by the entire wing. He dropped his bags onto his bed and looked at his schedule. _0830 History of GFs. Instructor Vhalash. He glanced at his watch. It was 8:25. With a start, he realized that he was going to be late for his first class if he didn't leave immediately. He had bought his books earlier before returning to his dorm, so he grabbed the required books for his classes and almost ran out his dorm room to the classrooms, hoping that he would be able to find his class within the few minutes he had left according to his watch._

He found his class with a minute to spare. Entering, the teacher noticed him and cleared her throat loudly. "Class, we have a new transfer student. Everyone please welcome Squall Leonhart."

Appreciative glances were thrown at him from the female population of the class, while the males generally ignored him. _Not this again._

"Squall, please sit in the back row next to Seifer."

_Seifer? Would this be the Seifer I know?_

He walked to the back, and saw his one friend from Galbadia Garden. Seifer Almasy. He was a blonde who always wore a trench-coat with a red cross on it. On his forehead was a scar that mirrored Squall's exactly.

Seifer grinned as he saw Squall. "Hey man, long time no see. How's my old partner?"

Squall grunted and sat down, staring at the computer terminal disinterestedly. He looked over at Seifer. "Hey Seifer. Didn't know you went here."

"Well, I'm training to become a SeeD. Just like you, eh? Let's talk later. Vhalash's totally strict about talking in class. I'll introduce you to my friends at lunch."

"Alright." He flicked on the computer terminal and followed the teacher's instructions as she lectured about the history of GFs.

~-~

"Squall, over here."

He heard the voice of Seifer from the general direction of the back of the Cafeteria. Walking towards the sound of the voice, he noticed several people sitting at the table Seifer was at. Taking a seat, he looked over at Seifer's friends.

"This is Squall. He's an old friend of mine from Galbadia Garden. We were always the best at combat, and we gave each other our scars on our foreheads during one intense training session. He doesn't talk much, but in a fight, he's one of the best partners you'd ever want. He even saved my butt a couple of times." Seifer grinned as Squall looked embarrassed at the attention.

"Lemme introduce you guys. This is Zell. Specialty is close-combat."

A blond with spiked hair and a tattoo on his face grinned at Squall and gave a thumbs-up.

Gesturing toward a long haired guy wearing a cowboy hat, he said "Irvine. Guns and women, according to him."

Irvine made a gun with his fingers and pretended to shoot at the hearts of a few girls sitting close by. A red-haired girl sitting next to him smacked him.

"The girl who just hit Irvine is Selphie, his girlfriend. Uses a nunchaku and can talk enemies to death."

"HEY! What was that about?!" Selphie was bouncing around and yelling at Seifer.

Chuckling, Seifer continued. "Quistis. One of the instructors here. Uses a whip, and has this excessively large fan club known as the Trepies."

The blond wearing glasses sitting next to Seifer muttered something under her breath. To Squall, it sounded suspiciously like "I want them to die."

"I wonder why they stalk you so much. Look behind that plant next to Quistis, and you can see one right there." Waving a hand toward a black-haired girl he said, "And that's Rinoa. She uses this weapon that I have no idea what it's called."

"It's a –" She was rudely cut off by Seifer.

"She's one of my best friends. We dated for a while."

Squall curiously raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"And what? Well, we decided to stay friends. It just didn't work out."

Rinoa slapped Seifer on his arm. "Stop cutting me off! I was going to tell him what weapon I use."

"Well? Why don't you tell him now?" A smirk was seen on his face as Rinoa started ignoring him, and she looked over at Squall.

"It's a –"

Seifer cut her off again.

"Well, I think we should go get some lunch now. Before, you know, it's all gone."

"Seifer! Stop it!" She grumbled and punched him on the arm.

Ignoring it, he pushed his chair back and stood.

"Jackass." Only Squall heard it, as she said it under her breath.

_At least she knows what kind of person Seifer can be, most of the time. Too bad she's probably like all the other girls I've ever known_.

"He's only teasing you. You can tell Squall after we go grab some lunch." Selphie piped up. "Now, let's go or else all the food will be gone!" She grabbed Irvine's hat and placed it on her head as she got up.

"Hotdogs, here I come!" Zell dashed out in front of the rest of the group as they got up from the table.

Seifer laughed as Zell was pretty much sprinting ahead, trying to get to the hotdogs before they were all gone. "He has this crazy obsession with hotdogs. I don't get it."

"Of course you wouldn't." Facing Squall, Rinoa continued. "Seifer here hates like all the cafeteria food. I suppose it's not _that great, but not bad."_

A slight grin crossed Squall's face as he recalled one incident in Galbadia Garden. One that he knew Seifer would _never_ forget. Once while returning to his dorm, Squall had found Seifer lugging up some boxes into his dorm room and the next day it was reported that food was missing from the Cafeteria. "Seifer, what about that food incident?"

"Shut up, puberty boy!" He hissed and jabbed Squall in the stomach.

An expression of curiosity was on Rinoa's face as she looked back and forth from Squall to Seifer, wondering what they were talking about. "Why don't you tell me, Seifer?"

Calmly, Squall answered for Seifer. "It's embarrassing for him."

A snarl released itself from Seifer's throat. "I told you never to speak of it again!"

"Whatever." Squall pretended to accede to Seifer's demand. But the moment Seifer was out of earshot, he turned back to Rinoa. "I saw him carrying a bunch of boxes up to his dorm room once. The next day, it was announced that food was missing from the Cafeteria. Oddly enough, Seifer had a really bad stomachache that day too. The doctor said that he had eaten some spoiled food."

Rinoa burst out laughing, causing Seifer to look back at the source of the noise. Glaring, he walked back over to Squall. "Did you tell her?"

"No." No hint of what he had said was betrayed by his facial expression. But Rinoa's laughter did.

"Dammit, Squall! I told you NOT to tell her and yet you do. The only thing worse than that would be telling her about my chocobo boxers I sleep in!" Seifer hadn't realized how loud he had shouted the last statement.

A sudden wave of silence struck the entire Cafeteria. Utensils dropped and clattered as people turned and stared in shock at Seifer, all minds on the image of the one that most respected sleeping in cutesy boxers with chocobos on them.

"What about that stuffed chocobo you cuddle whenever you sleep?" Everyone who was listening was even more shocked at the comment from the brown-haired teenager standing in front of Seifer.

One person started laughing, and then the rest of the Cafeteria joined in a few moments later.

The most shocking part about the entire event to Squall was that barely half a minute later, girls were flirting with Seifer. Looking at Seifer's expression directed at him while Seifer was busy trying to escape from the girls, he decided that it was probably not in his best interests to get anywhere near him for the next several days. "He's busy, so let's go."

If Squall was shocked, Rinoa was even more so at Seifer's admission. "Seifer. Chocobo. Boxers. Oh my god. The last person in the world I'd have ever expected to sleep in _chocobo_ boxers! _And_ with a stuffed chocobo too!" Her laughter that had stopped when Seifer was shouting came back in full force, leaving her paralyzed.

"You never knew?" He stared in amazement at Rinoa.

Still laughing, she choked out, "No, I didn't. Why?" A sudden revelation made her realize the alternative meaning in the question Squall had asked. Blushing, she answered, "No, I was never _that close to him."_

"I see." For some reason that fact made him feel a bit better. He had no idea why.

~-~

Returning to his dorm after his afternoon classes, Squall looked at the clock. _5:02. Good, I have a couple hours before my evening classes. Maybe I'll see if Seifer got all those girls off him yet._

The 'I'm going to kill you' expression on Seifer's face reminded him that he should start running in the opposite direction the moment he saw Seifer if he valued his life.

Sighing, Squall walked out to the one place where he could vent some of his frustration at the attention he attracted already: the Training Center. Waves of heat permeated through the entrance to the Training Center as he got closer, making him sweat. Unsheathing his gunblade, he strolled into the jungle overgrowth that seemed to be everywhere. He looked around, and saw a few plants that seemed to be aggressive. One flicked a couple of its tentacles his way, trying to strangle him.

Rushing up, he quickly dispatched it with a clean swipe, cleaving its tentacles and stem in half. It's green blood oozed out of the carcass, leaving behind a strong stench.

_Oh man, the smell wasn't part of the job description of being a SeeD._

Killing the other ones easily and efficiently, he moved on to the next area. He saw a single T-Rexaur looking around for something to eat. That was when it spotted Squall, and chose him as its next target.

_Shit. What did that instructor say these were weak to? They're from a jungle, so it must be cold!_

He junctioned some Blizzard spells to his gunblade while avoiding the clumsy attempts that the T-Rexaur made with its jaw to bite him.

Seeing an opening right after the T-Rexaur lunged, he swung his gunblade directly at its tail, cutting a few feet off. Its scream of pain echoed through the area, and Squall desperately prayed that no other T-Rexaurs would tumble in at this time. Another attack, this time from its tail stump, hit Squall on his side, making him wince in pain.

_I've had it. Limit Break!_

"Renzokuken!" Rushing at the T-Rexaur, he slashed it several times in the chest, pulling the trigger on his gunblade simultaneously with each cut. The recoil from the gunblade's bullets was absorbed by the flesh of the T-Rexaur. The gunblade jerked with each shot, forcing Squall to tighten his grip upon the handle. It never stood a chance. The final blow severed its neck and sent it crashing to the ground, its blood pooling around its carcass.

_That was enough entertainment for today_.

Sudden applause from his side made him realize that he wasn't the only one there. Looking to his left, he realized that an entire class of students had seen him kill the T-Rexaur, and most of them had admiring looks on their faces.

_Shit! I hated the hero worship there, and now I just put myself back on the pedestal. I'm such an idiot_.

He looked again, and noticed that Seifer was standing amongst the students, grinning at him. "Hey, puberty boy. Nice job on that T-Rexaur."

Squall eyed Seifer suspiciously, wondering what he was up to. It just wasn't Seifer to suddenly forgive him about telling the entire Cafeteria about the stuffed chocobo that Seifer cuddled whenever he went to sleep. "What do you want?"

Still having a smirk on his face, Seifer pulled Squall off to the side, away from the other students. "I want to thank you for saying that thing about the stuffed chocobo."

Squall couldn't believe his ears. "_What?"_

"All those girls think it's so _adorable that I have a stuffed chocobo. I've got enough dates to last me a lifetime."_

"That's ... great." Squall could've cared less, but it was quite amusing considering what had happened.

"No, seriously! Like at least thirty girls asked if I could 'help' them with training."

"Whatever. Just leave me alone. I brought enough attention to myself _again_." Walking away, a sudden thought made Squall stop and turn back to Seifer. "Would you do me a favor?"

"Name it."

~-~

"Ugh!" Rinoa screamed in frustration at the amount of work she had that day, wondering why all her instructors seemed to pile assignment after assignment on them for no reason whatsoever. Looking out the window, she noticed that the weather was too nice to be working indoors on some annoying _project. She grabbed her notebooks and walked out of her dorm room, locking the door behind her._

_Wow. The weather's been really nice this week, and I haven't even noticed until today_.

Exiting the dorm area, she noticed a slightly familiar looking person that was leaving the Training Center. 

_Hrm. Do I know him?_

Getting closer, she realized that it was Seifer's old friend that she met in the Cafeteria.

_What was his name again? S-something. Sq ... Squall. That's it! _"Hey, Squall!" 

The brown-haired teenager looked around at the mention of his name, wondering as to who said his name. Noticing the girl waving at him, he walked over to her. "Rinoa, right?"

"Yep! You got my name right!" She looked at the weapon that he was carrying. "Oh, wow, a gunblade! Seifer's the only other person in this Garden that uses a gunblade."

"Oh, really?" _Crap, my weapon's drawing attention now. I really hope Seifer does what I asked him to_.

"Apparently it's really hard to use a gunblade. But it's no problem for you, huh?"

_What did I just say?! God, I must sound like I'm flirting with him. He's cute, though_. _But I barely know him!_

He shrugged. "Whatever."

"You want me to show you around?"

"Fine." He followed her as she pointed out and described the various sections of the Garden.

While they were passing the Cafeteria entrance, Squall's stomach decided to make a loud rumble.

"Hungry?" She giggled at the look of annoyance on Squall's face.

He gave her a shrug. "Maybe." A louder grumble from his stomach made him realize that it was nearing six, his normal dinner hour.

"Maybe? Well, we might as well grab dinner while we're here, considering the noise your stomach's making. Sounds like you've been starving the poor thing." She smiled as his cheeks flushed a bit pink at her comment.

"Whatever." Walking in, the first thing that they noticed was that their entire table group was already seated and eating dinner.

Zell was the first one to notice them. Half done devouring a hot dog, he semi-mumbled, "There you guys are."

"We were just about to look for you!" Selphie was still quite hyper, even in the middle of eating her food. Immediately after looking up at the two walking toward the table, she turned back to Irvine and started chatting animatedly about some committee thing.

Rinoa put down her notebooks on the table near one of the open seats. "I was just showing Squall around."

A puzzled look crossed Seifer's face as he looked at Squall and Rinoa.

_That's not like Squall to accept._

"But that's not li–" The thought he was about to voice was stopped as another realization came to him.

"What?" Rinoa had missed the exchange.

"Nothing." Seifer grinned to himself as he realized that Rinoa already made Squall different, even if Squall didn't know.

_Damn, she has a really big effect on him. Heck, she affects like _everyone_._

"Hey puberty boy, I need to talk to you for a sec." He got up from his seat.

Walking to an empty table, Squall looked straight back at Seifer. "What?" It was a demand, simple and short.

"Are you sure you want me to? If I do this, then like everyone will probably avoid you." He noticed the intense look on Squall's face which seem like he had an internal fight with his thoughts.

After a moment's hesitation, Squall answered. "I'm sure. At least then, no one will try to get to know me."

"I'm going to wait on this. I'll do it in like a week. Definitely not during this week, though. Make sure you want this. Tell me on the weekend if you really want me to. Sleep on it." He said it as convincingly as possible, hoping that Squall would change his mind.

"Whatever." Both of them got up and went back to the other table, taking their respective seats.

"Why do you call him 'puberty boy', Seifer?" Rinoa's question shocked both Squall and Seifer.

He had to make up a good excuse, and fast.

_The truth would embarrass him so much_.

"It's a nickname I gave him a couple of years ago because he grew taller than the rest of the other boys for a while. Then I caught up and passed him last year." He looked over at Squall, who was seriously struggling to keep his cheeks from flushing.

Rinoa didn't think that was the true story because of how Seifer seemed to talk a little too fast, but she decided to leave it alone. "I see."

_I'll get the true story out of one of them sometime_.

She noticed the strange expression Squall had on his face. "Squall? You alright?"

"I'm fine."

His voice sounded quite strained compared to normal which made her wonder what had affected him that deeply.

_Was it something about the 'puberty boy' comment?_

Seifer leaned back, eating some fries while observing the two sitting across from him.

_Hmm, maybe she'll like him. Squall needs a girlfriend, anyways._

His decision made, he finished the fries. "Why don't you two get some dinner now?"

He got no answer, only the scraping of the chairs against the tiled linoleum as they got up and walked over to the line of students purchasing food.

_They look good together._

Waving toward the rest of the table group, he got their attention. "Guys, let's set those two up."

---

A/N: And here's the first chapter! Hope you like it. Personally, I think that in different circumstances that Seifer and Squall could have been friends, even if they would fight a lot. Seifer's a good guy, IMO. Heh.

bembem: Thanks for your suggestions and comments. I didn't realize how bad my grammar is at some points, like the gunblade recoil thing, so I just scrapped that sentence and redid it. 


	2. Friends?

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VIII and all its characters are property of SquareSoft

**A Life Unlived** by remote_mine

Chapter Two – Friends?

_Not again_.

She grumbled while she hurriedly dressed, hoping against hope that she would be able to get to class before the bell rang.

_Why do I keep forgetting about the prep? Maybe I should sleep earlier. Looks like I have to skip breakfast for now. I hate those stupid instructors._

Normally she started her day an hour later, but she was going to take the SeeD Examination and had to go to a special class once a week in preparation.

Running toward the elevator, Rinoa quickly mashed the button and waited impatiently for the elevator to descend. As the doors opened, she walked in, hitting the button for floor two. The elevator shuddered as she looked at her watch, silently lamenting the fact that she had less than a minute to get to class. _It's already seven_.

The hiss of the elevator doors opening snapped her out of her thoughts and she ran toward her first 'class' of the day. What she wasn't expecting was that there would be someone just around the corner as she ran around it, crashing right into him and falling.

"Oops! Sorry." She rubbed her arms where they had landed, partially breaking her fall. Looking at the person that she had run into, she recognized him. "Squall!"

He wordlessly got up and walked over to her, offering a gloved hand. Taking it, she looked up him and made eye contact. "Thanks. Sorry about that."

She looked away from his eyes as he pulled her up, and she wondered as to why he didn't respond. _Oh, right. Seifer said something about how he doesn't really talk. But he _did_ talk to me, yesterday._

"Where are you headed to?"

"SeeD Exam Preparations with Instructor Trepe."

_Finally, he's talking. I wonder why he doesn't like to talk. I like his voice. Wait, he's going where I am too! So he must be taking the SeeD Exam._

"Oh, so you haven't found it? I was just going there. I'll show you the way!" She walked ahead, looking back every so often to check if he was following.

Finally getting to the class, they walked in a few minutes late. Instructor Trepe wasn't happy that two of her students were missing, but brightened up a bit when she saw them.

_Seifer__ was right. I think they could work out._

Immediately turning back to her instructor-mode, she spoke to the two. "Cadets Rinoa Heartilly and Squall Leonhart, you two are late. Becoming a SeeD is not something to be taken lightly. Take your seats."

With that, she turned back to the class. A cough coming from her side brought her attention to the person standing beside her. "Yes, Leonhart?"

"Instructor, I have not been assigned a terminal."

She looked over to the class, and noted the open seats. Several girls without a seat partner were looking at Squall with admiring glances, hoping that they would be chosen.

_Perfect. Rinoa has no one sitting next to her._

"Take the terminal next to Heartilly."

Rinoa looked over at Squall as he took the seat next to her, wondering as to why Quistis had chosen for Squall to sit next to her.

_Maybe it's because he walked in with me? Or because she remembered that we met yesterday?_

A glance around the room brought up other suspicions; most of the girls were looking at her with jealousy on their faces. Others were looking at Quistis with disappointment.

_Or maybe because she knows I don't judge by appearances. But I have to admit, he's pretty cute. I wonder how he would react if he found out I called him 'cute.' _She hid a smile that threatened to creep onto her face.

Quistis' voice brought her out of her thoughts. "Class, we're doing a live-training session today. I'll be assigning partners. Let's head down to the Training Area. Leonhart, I need to talk to you."

With that, the class got up and shuffled out the door. Only Squall stayed behind, wondering what she wanted him for.

"Squall Leonhart, I have been reading your report from Galbadia. You've excelled at the gunblade, which is why you're taking the SeeD exam here, correct?"

A nod was the only response she got from Squall.

"Have you had any experience working with others in a group?"

"Yes."

"Good. Let's go."

Squall led the way with Quistis following, walking to the entrance to the Training Center, where all the other students were. Most of them were talking amongst themselves, making quite a bit of noise considering it was only seven thirty in the morning.

"Class, listen up." All the students fell silent when they realized that their instructor was there.

"I'll be assigning partners now. Since there are only eighteen of you in this class, I'll have three groups go in at a time. When you hear your name, step just inside the entrance. I'll be calling off the partners. Group A. Ahn and Geritz."

A boy and a girl detached themselves from the group of students, heading into the entrance.

"Group B. Heartilly and Leonhart."

Squall and Rinoa walked into the Training Center. Rinoa was looking around and again saw the disappointment in some of the other girls' expressions when they heard what Quistis had said. One discussion inadvertently reached her ears as they passed a pair of girls talking.

"Rinoa's so lucky. I wish I could be with that new guy. He was even assigned to the seat next to her."

"Same here. He's totally hot, but I bet he already has a girlfriend."

Rinoa looked over at Squall to see if there was any reaction to either of the girls' comments. _Nothing. __Looks like he didn't hear them._

Another pair of people joined the four standing inside the Training Center. Quistis walked in a moment later.

"With your assigned partner, kill one T-Rexaur. Bring back a Dino Bone as evidence of your kill. If you or your partner becomes injured and cannot proceed, use the distress beacon on this radio. GFs and Junctioning are legible for use in this training session." Quistis handed a radio to each person, and questioned each to make sure that they knew how to use their radios. "Good luck."

The students dispersed into the jungle overgrowth in their respective pairs, alert for any sign of a T-Rexaur nearby.

Squall led the way, Rinoa behind him as they followed the trail. The trail split suddenly. Large footprints were made in the flattened grass, leading off to the right.

"Let's go right!" Rinoa suggested.

"Fine." He continued following the right path, looking around for any sign of danger.

A corpse to the right caught Rinoa's attention, and she noted that it looked like a T-Rexaur's corpse. The corpse had many bites on its flesh, and the stench pervaded the area. Flies were buzzing around it, many landing on the rotting meat. "Hmm. A dead T-Rexaur." Looking closer, Rinoa saw the tell-tale marks that showed the weapon that had cut into its chest. "Someone with a gunblade did this."

The memories of yesterday immediately came to her mind. _Squall was walking out of the __Training__Center__ carrying a gunblade. "Did you kill it?"_

He put a hand to his forehead as they had inadvertently stumbled across the result of his anger he had released on the T-Rexaur. "Yes."

"Wow. You did this all by yourself?"

She looked over her shoulder at him curiously as she got no response. "You don't need my help to take one on, huh?"

"Whatever."

"Let's go. We still need to find a T-Rexaur and kill it."

Loud footsteps and a roar behind them made Rinoa jump slightly. "Or maybe we don't need to find one."

Turning around, they saw one T-Rexaur looking at them hungrily, its hot stinky breath washing over them. Both of them readied their weapons and got into their battle stance as they saw the T-Rexaur was about to lunge. Squall quickly sidestepped the first attempt by the T-Rexaur, hoping that Rinoa would be able to hit it while it was busy with him. He held his gunblade low, keeping it ready for an opening.

Rinoa had snuck off to its side when the T-Rexaur was busy with Squall. She fired her weapon into the unprotected side of its scaled skin, embedding her weapon into its flesh and causing the T-Rexaur to stomp its feet in pain. The resulting earthquake almost knocked her off her feet, barely managing to keep her balance. It whipped its head around to look for what had caused it that injury and spotted her. Right before it was about to step toward her, she released a sudden blast of ice that froze its hind legs to the ground, rendering it immobile.

Squall took advantage of the T-Rexaur's momentary paralysis and ran up behind it, jumping on its tail. He ran up its bony back and brought his gunblade down on its neck, cutting through flesh and bone and partially severing several of its neck arteries. A blast that followed when he pulled the gunblade's trigger forced the tear in its neck wider, drawing an enormous gush of blood.

The T-Rexaur howled again in rage, and broke free of its icy confinement as it struggled to keep its balance. Blood flew everywhere as the sudden movement sent Squall flying off the T-Rexaur. His grip on his gunblade slipped as its tip was still embedded in the neck of the T-Rexaur. He landed on his arm with a loud crunch, followed moments later by the clatter of his gunblade not far away which had also been thrown free by the T-Rexaur's thrashing. He couldn't move his right arm.

_Shit. Did I break something? _Rolling onto his back, he fought to get himself off the grass and back on his feet.

Still ready to cast another Blizzard spell if necessary, Rinoa watched as the T-Rexaur finally collapsed to the ground. Its blood gushed out thicker and faster than before, to finally slow to a trickle with its body still convulsing.

_Hope he's alright_. _That was a pretty nasty fall._ Running over to him, she noted that he was still lying on the ground, struggling to get up. She grabbed his hand, and tried pulling him up.

His arm screamed in pain as she tried to help him up, making him wonder what had happened to it. A slight tightening of the muscles around his eyes was the only expression he showed. "Rinoa, don't grab my arm."

Eyes wide with concern, she let go and examined his arm. "Sorry. Be careful with it, then. Your arm might have been dislocated or broken after that landing."

_If I try healing it now, it'd probably make it worse._ She looked around for his gunblade and saw it lying a few feet away, still stained with blood. Picking it up by its handle, she brought it back over to him.

_This thing is heavy_. "Here's your gunblade."

He slowly got up, wincing as his arm jolted him with pain whenever he tried to move it. He made a clumsy attempt to grab the gunblade, but his arm couldn't move far enough or straight enough in a line for his hand to grasp the handle.

She watched as he attempted again to grab his gunblade, finally seeming to give up. "I'll put it back in its sheath for you."

He glared back at her. "No. Don't tell anyone." With that, he grabbed his gunblade with his left hand and walked off.

_Don't tell anyone what?_ Puzzled, she followed him back over to the freshly killed T-Rexaur. The next thing that she saw shocked her.

Squall was using his gunblade with his left hand to cut apart the T-Rexaur's flesh, each slash with phenomenal accuracy.

_Is he left-handed? _"Don't tell anyone you can use the gunblade with your left hand? Don't tell anyone you're actually left-handed?"

A nod was all he decided to respond with. He cleaned the blood off his gunblade as he finished with the T-Rexaur and awkwardly re-sheathed his gunblade. Picking up the bone, he wiped the blood and gore onto the trampled grass.

_He's injured and he's still working!_ "I'll carry the bone." She grabbed it out of his hands before he could protest, silencing him by walking before he could stop her.

"Wait. You forgot your weapon." Squall walked over to the other side of the corpse, extracting something that was partially embedded in the scales. "What is this?" He seemed curious as he turned it over, looking at it from different angles.

She laughed as she remembered what had happened yesterday. "Oh, I never told you what I use. This is a Blaster Edge. Normally it would boomerang back after hitting something, but I guess the T-Rexaur's skin was too tough and it got stuck." Setting the bone down, she reloaded her weapon by placing it back into its arm holder and picked up the bone again.

Walking back to the entrance, they saw a few Grats that quickly disappeared after the smell of the dinosaur's bone had reached their senses.

Quistis was still standing at the entrance, apparently bored of waiting for the groups. She saw Rinoa and Squall walking back, with Rinoa carrying the bone. "Good, you two are the first to finish. Put the bone over next to the wall." The next thing she noticed was that Squall was favoring his right arm in how he tried to keep it immobile. "Leonhart? What happened to your arm?"

"Injured it."

She couldn't read the expression on his face.

"Heartilly, take Leonhart to the Infirmary."

Rinoa nodded as she set the bone next to the wall. She walked back over to Squall. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"I'm dragging you there anyways!"

She grinned back at him, making him feel uncomfortable as to _why_ she wanted to help him.

"...Whatever."

Taking his answer as the closest to a 'yes' she would get out of him, she walked off toward the Infirmary with Squall by her side.

They had the unfortunate surprise of running into Irvine near the Cafeteria while they were passing by. Irvine whistled as Squall and Rinoa walked by him, making them turn toward him at the sound. "Hey guys."

Squall didn't respond when they stopped, so Rinoa did. "Hey Irvine. Where's Selphie?"

"Probably not up yet." He grinned at Squall, looking at the awkward position of his right arm. Irvine chuckled at a sudden image of Rinoa breaking Squall's arm. "Man, you've gotta move _slower. Girls don't like it when you rush things. And apparently you found out the hard way. What did Rinoa do to you?"_

Squall glared back at him with a cold, hard look that had the feeling of welcome from absolute zero. Gritting his teeth, he silently tried to block out thoughts of maiming and killing Irvine. _Why is it whenever I'm with a girl, everyone assumes that I like them or something?! Stop. Calm down and just ignore what he's saying. They give up when it looks like it doesn't affect you._

Rinoa growled at Irvine. "Irvine! Anyways, to answer your question, he got injured in the Training Center. It was a T-Rexaur's fault."

Laughing, Irvine dismissed her comment with a wave of his hand. He looked over toward the dorms. "Oh look, Seifer's coming. Wait 'til he hears this." Before they could flee from the proximity of Irvine, he had already shouted to Seifer. "Seifer! Your old buddy Squall is already hitting on Rinoa. I've got to compliment his taste in girls."

Seifer had an amazed expression on his face when he walked over to where the three were standing. He stared at Squall with a bemused look in his eyes. "Whoa, Squall. How come you never hooked up with one of those girls from our old Garden? There were a lot of girls that liked you. And quite a few were hot."

Squall could not believe what was going on. "Seifer, shut up." _Great, I'm going to hear about this for months. If I pretend it doesn't affect me, they'll stop. _One lone thought made him reconsider._ Puberty boy. Damn, screw that. Seifer knows how to annoy the hell out of me, plus he never stops._

Averting his gaze from Squall's eyes, Seifer noticed the irregular posture of Squall's arm.

Turning to Rinoa, he let his jaw drop exaggeratedly. "Rinoa, I never knew you had that bad a temper. Were you _that_ pissed at him flirting with you?"

"I did _not_ break his arm! It was a T-Rexaur that threw him off its back and he landed on his arm, alright?!" To Squall, Rinoa actually looked annoyed at Seifer and Irvine. She had her hands on her hips, glaring intently at the two.

Irvine and Seifer couldn't hold their laughter in after Rinoa's reaction. Struggling to regain his breath, Irvine managed to stop laughing long enough to make another comment. "She's being defensive. Let me guess, you two were too preoccupied _with each other to notice his arm being messed up."_

Rinoa blushed furiously, wanting to kick Irvine right where it would hurt the most. Seifer had been slightly recovering from his fit of laughter started laughing even harder.

Feeling embarrassed enough for the both of them, Squall turned to Rinoa. "Let them laugh. Let's go."

Behind them, Squall and Rinoa heard Seifer and Irvine's attempts at wolf-whistles through the laughter as they walked to the Infirmary.

Squall could hear the last comment from Seifer echo across the dome as he walked into the Infirmary. "She must like you a lot. She never let anyone that close to her before!"

He groaned as a major headache finally hit him, making him struggle with his footing.

Rinoa rushed to his side to help him, making sure not to aggravate his injury. Grabbing his good arm, she half-dragged him into the waiting room, spotting the resident doctor. "Doctor Kadowaki! Squall's been injured. I think his arm might be broken. Plus he almost lost his balance right after walking through the door."

The doctor's attention which had been directed towards a file she had been holding was brought immediately back to the person that Rinoa was with. "Help him over to the bed."

Carefully removing his jacket and the white shirt underneath, she gave them to Rinoa. "Hold on to this. I'm going to need to examine his arm closer." She observed that the entire arm just seemed to be knocked out of its socket. "It looks like he landed on his shoulder instead of his arm, so there aren't any fractures. The dislocation isn't that bad, but I'm going to need to push it back into place before I can fix it."

Rinoa looked at Squall, who seemed to be totally dazed as to what was going on. She could only watch at what was happening as the doctor spoke to him.

"Squall? This is going to hurt." He didn't seem to hear her as he lay on the bed, weaving in and out of consciousness.

She gripped his arm tightly as she pushed it back into place with a popping sound. She realized that he was so out of it that he didn't even react at the pain. Turning to Rinoa, she asked her, "Do you have any healing spells on you?"

"Yes, several Cures and two Curas."

"Good thing you didn't use them on him immediately. If you did, they would force his arm to heal incorrectly. And we would need to re-break his arm to set it correctly. Two Cures should be enough." Finished, she grabbed a pen off her desk and began to write in a file she grabbed from one of the filing cabinets.

Rinoa brought to her mind the image of Squall's arm being healed, and released the Cure spells onto him with a hand gesture. The immediate effect on his arm was obvious. He still wasn't entirely conscious, but she could see that his arm looked as normal as his other arm. She looked at him wearing only a white tank-top at the moment. _Wow, he has a nice body. Wait, what am I thinking? Alright Rinoa, when have you started paying so much attention to how guys look?_

Dr. Kadowaki finished writing, and spoke again. "He'll be entirely conscious in a few minutes."

"Thanks for your help."

"No need to thank me."

Rinoa looked back over to Squall, and was shocked to see that he was already sitting up and looking back at her. "How are you feeling?"

"My arm's stiff."

Dr. Kadowaki focused her attention on Squall. "Careful with that arm. It'll be sore for a few hours. Magic can speed up healing, but it can't take away all the effects of injuries. You'll be able to use it normally by ..." She looked at the clock. _7:42_. "Eleven o'clock."

He grunted and got up, walking over to Rinoa who was holding onto his clothes. Holding out his hand, he waited for her to give him his clothes.

She blushed as she stared at his bare arms, marveling at the way his muscles rippled underneath the skin. Realizing that she was still holding his jacket and shirt, she handed the articles back to him. _How long was I staring at him?_

Quickly dressing, he put on his shirt and jacket while avoiding moving his right arm too much. The only problem was that he couldn't zip up his jacket with just one hand.

Rinoa was still looking at him while he was putting on his clothes, struggling with the jacket zipper. She knew he wouldn't ask for help, so she grabbed the zipper and did it for him.

"Thanks."

Giving him a smile, she walked with him back out of the Infirmary. Her stomach complained at the lack of food to digest. _Skipping breakfast wasn't such a great idea after all. "Squall, you had breakfast yet?"_

"No."

"Well, let's go get something to eat then!" They walked into the Cafeteria, and headed over to their normal table. Rinoa waved at a couple of classmates as she walked by their table.

Irvine and Seifer were there, along with Zell and Selphie. Irvine and Seifer noticed the two walking in, and looked at each other with very evil smirks.

Squall brought up his hand to his forehead, knowing that they were in for it. He sighed as he took the seat next to Rinoa, mentally preparing for the worst.

Glancing away from the knowing grins that Seifer and Irvine were pretty much flaunting, he jumped up again. "I'll grab the food. What do you want, Rinoa?"

She knew what he was trying to do. "I'll get the food, you stay here. You're injured, remember?" She gave him a knowing smirk as she quickly got up and walked to the line to buy the food.

_Damn, she's on to me_. If Squall could have slammed his head into the table inconspicuously, he would have. She and her friends had him trapped, and he couldn't do anything. Dreading the inevitable conversation, he slowly sat back down and steeled himself for the first blow. _The shit's going to hit the fan. Three...Two...One..._

_Zero._ Irvine took it. "Was she good?"

Squall decided the best course of action was to avoid the topic by playing dumb. "What?"

Irvine grinned. "You know."

"No, I don't."

Seifer butted in with a smirk on his face. "Don't deny it. Rinoa broke your arm accidentally, huh? Was she too rough?"

Zell perked up at this, a donut in his hand. "What? What are you guys talking about?"

Glaring directly at Seifer, he replied through clenched teeth. "She told you. We were in the Training Center and fought a T-Rexaur. I climbed onto its back, and it threw me off when I stabbed it. I landed on my arm, dislocating my shoulder." This time, he really wished that both of them would shut up.

Irvine chuckled. "Right. Like I'm really going to believe that. You've got to tell me your secret, man. Scoring on your second day here, now that's impressive. Except for getting your shoulder dislocated. That's the part you need to work on. The art is to get what you want _without getting physically injured in the process."_

Selphie looked up from her cereal and whacked Irvine on his arm. "Sickos. Anyways, she would never hurt someone like that by accident."

Squall clenched and unclenched his fists, wanting nothing more than to stick his gunblade through both Irvine and Seifer or at least chop off their tongues.

Their ability to converse was spared for the moment by Rinoa returning with two plates on a tray and some utensils. Setting the tray down, she handed the plate with more food on it to Squall. "Here."

Grabbing a fork, he stabbed his bacon with a vengeance and looked away from Seifer and Irvine. _They're just teasing you._

The next words out of Seifer's mouth did nothing to calm him down. Slowly drinking some orange juice, Seifer gave Rinoa a mischievous glance. "Rinoa, how good was he?"

Hearing that, Squall nearly broke his plate with his fork as he stabbed a bit _too_ hard into the scrambled eggs, having hoped against hope that they would just leave him alone. His hope had been misplaced.

Rinoa was not one to back down in a confrontation. She knew what the impact of her chosen response would have on the group focused intently on both her and Squall, and said it with a smile directed at Squall. "_Wonderful._"

That wasn't anywhere near the reply everyone was expecting, and it was shown in the events that followed. Irvine suddenly tipped his chair backwards and landed flat on his back, twitching violently and muttering "I've been outdone!" Seifer was still in the middle of drinking and choked, spraying the orange juice all over the table. Selphie who had turned back to eating her cereal, dropped her spoon into her bowl and looked at Rinoa with an expression of astonishment and disbelief. Zell's half-eaten donut went rolling off the table to splatter jelly on the floor as he stared back and forth between Squall and Rinoa. None of them could speak.

Recovering his voice first, Seifer broke the sudden silence at their table. "Oh my God." He looked around the room wildly, wondering if it was the end of the world. "Where's the reddened sky? The large earthquakes? The end of the world has come!"

Hearing that, Rinoa started laughing at Seifer's expression as he continued to look around for a sign of the apocalypse. Irvine was still flat on his back, but Selphie was trying to help him back up with that look of denial on her face. Rinoa couldn't stop laughing at how they reacted. She finally looked over at Squall, hoping that he wouldn't be too angry at wanting to have a laugh at the expense of the two tormenting them earlier.

Squall saw his life flash before his eyes, and he knew that he would _never_ hear the end of this event. This was something that he knew the entire table group would permanently attach to how they viewed him. He looked over at Rinoa, still somewhat dazed at what she had said. "What the_ hell?"_

Laughing so hard that tears were streaming down her face, she tried to answer him. "I'm so sorry Squall ... but I wanted to see their expressions!" After another wave of laughter passed, she was finally able to control herself. "Alright. Seifer, Irvine, Selphie and Zell, _nothing happened between us. __Understood?" She only saw grins from the four she had directed her last statement to._

Irvine made it worse. "Drop the act, Rinoa. We know what really happened. I wonder how Quistis will react when she hears of this ... " His grin widened.

At that point, Rinoa was fed up with them. She played her trump card with an innocent smile. "Fine. If you don't understand, Squall here will take out his gunblade and slice and dice you into pieces. I'm sure that he would be happy with the results of that."

That was a request he could definitely comply with. Unsheathing his gunblade, he pulled the barrel open and cleaned the chambers with a piece of cloth. He took out six bullets from his belt and reloaded his gunblade, shoving the barrel back into place. Finished, he spun the barrel with a flick of his wrist. Just for extra emphasis, he took out a piece of slate he used to sharpen the edge and ran it across the nicks on the blade which made a horrible screeching sound. He glanced up at the rest of the table group looking to see if they got the message.

Seifer and Irvine immediately started blabbering about how sorry they were. Fear could be seen in their eyes. Zell and Selphie diverted their attention, suddenly quite interested in finishing their breakfast. Rinoa smiled at their newfound interest, finally being able to sit through the rest of breakfast without being teased. Squall turned back to his plate, thankful for the peace and quiet.

~-~

Two more questions. That was all he needed to finish. He scribbled the answer to the question, and quickly read the last one.

_Explain how limit breaks work, and how they are affected by various battle events. Name any magics that relate to limits, and describe their effect._

Squall was relieved, mainly because he was worried that it would be something confusing about the mechanics of Junctioning. His hand was tired from all the stuff he had written, but he forced it back onto the paper. At that moment, his hand cramped up painfully. Cursing inwardly, he switched the pencil over to his left hand and finished the quiz.

"Time's up. Please turn in your papers."

He got up and walked to the front of the class, handing the answer sheet to the instructor with the rest of the class. _You'd think with all our technology, we'd have tests and quizzes on our terminals._

He passed Rinoa as she walked back to her terminal, picking up her books under her seat. She noticed that Squall was holding his pencil in his left hand, and remembered what had happened earlier before in the Training Center. _He said something about how he didn't want me to tell anyone. Hrm, I'll ask him about it after class. _Walking outside the classroom, she waited for him to finish picking up his stuff and leave.

She walked beside him as the students filed out of the class, most heading for the elevator to take it downstairs so they could go to the Cafeteria as it was lunch. The moment they entered the elevator and the doors closed, she voiced her question as they were the only two in there. "Why don't you want anyone to know about you being left-handed?"

No answer.__

_This is getting old. Sometimes I think he's mute._ "Well?" They stepped out of the elevator as it gave off a ding, and walked down the steps.

What he did next confused her. He pointed directly at a student in the middle of a group sitting near the fountain. The male was talking loudly, apparently telling a joke while all the onlookers were laughing at what he was saying.

_What's that mean? _"I'm sorry Squall, but I don't know what you're trying to show me by that."__

Squall sighed, and stopped walking. "Look at him. Look at where the attention of that group is directed at."

Instant comprehension of what he meant came to her. "Oh, I see." She didn't voice her thoughts, ones of why she had decided to come to Garden. It was for pretty much the same reason as Squall not wanting anyone to find out about him being left-handed. She hated being the center of attention, just like Squall. _Maybe we're more alike than we know. Everyone else doesn't think of us as normal people, but we feel just like they do._

The next question she had was somewhat personal, so she tried to word it without seeming like she was prying into his life. "So you don't like attention? You're like the opposite of most guys I know."

He muttered something so softly that even he couldn't tell what he said. _She's asking so many questions. I don't get her. She's pushing into stuff that doesn't concern her._ "Whatever."

She stared at him, wanting a straight answer. _Why can't he just tell me why? Is it really so hard to say what you're thinking? "Tell me. Don't just '__whatever' me. I don't get you. Right when it seems like you have a personality, you immediately go and prove everyone wrong." Annoyed, she stepped right in front of him, making him look directly at her._

_She's really testing my patience today_. A hint of irritation could be heard in his voice. "What's it to you? Why do you care about something that's not your business?"

This time, she made sure he had eye contact with her. "Because I can tell you care! Why do you act so cold?"

"I don't need this." His reply spoken, he started walking again and left her standing there.

She could only stare at his back as he disappeared off toward the dormitories. _I know you care. If nothing else, what you just said about hating attention proved it. But why do you pretend as if most things don't affect you? _That question echoed in her mind as she walked toward the Cafeteria.

~-~

He took off his jacket, draping it on his chair. He kept thinking about the days' events, the last question that Rinoa asked him still lingering in his mind. _What's she up to? Why won't she just leave me alone? I can take care of myself._

Undoing the buckle that strapped his gunblade's sheath to his side, he set it on his desk. He felt a slight sting in his right arm from the dislocation earlier that day, but his arm still functioned as well as before. Sighing, he pushed the thoughts out of his mind and tried to concentrate on the work assigned by his instructors. He flipped open a book and found the page that he was supposed to read.

He couldn't concentrate. That question that Rinoa had asked him kept bugging him, tearing his mind off of the history of Balamb.

_"Why do you act so cold?"_

The odd thing was in retrospect, he had the perfect answer and even his answer wasn't an answer. He got up and stretched, feeling as if he had run a marathon. His right arm complained again, but he ignored it as his thoughts were concentrated on the question that he had never considered before.

Looking at the clock, he decided that he might as well grab some lunch anyway as he wasn't going to get any work done. He grabbed his jacket and put it on as he walked out his dorm, heading toward the Cafeteria while still thinking of her question.

_Great._ As soon as he looked at his group's table, he saw that the only seat open was next to Rinoa. He wasn't exactly sure why, but he didn't really feel like sitting near her at the moment. This time getting the food first, he walked over to the line and brooded some more about the question she asked him. _All those you care about, won't be there permanently. I had to go through life alone, so I don't need others helping me. I got through life fine so far. She's wasting her time._ Buying a hamburger and some fries, he walked over to his group's table and sat down next to the person he wanted to see least._ I hope that she won't try to talk to me for now._

His hope was destroyed yet again. "Squall."

Picking up his burger, he turned his head toward Rinoa who was sitting on his right. "What?" He looked at her and to him it seemed like what she wanted to say was quite serious.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you."

"Don't worry about it."

Rinoa was a bit surprised at the non-'whatever' statement that Squall replied with, but said nothing of it. _When I thought I knew what kind of person he was, he goes and destroys it. I was right. He's not as uncaring as he acts, but why does he act that way? She gave him a smile and turned back to her lunch and started eating again._

Irvine injected a comment, his voice dripping with sweetness. "Aww. Look Seifer, the two lovebirds are making up after a fight! You two just don't get too carried away in showing how sorry you are here. Save that for somewhere more private." He winked at Rinoa who blushed and glared at him.

Squall ignored him, starting to get used to those perverted comments that Irvine always made. Since he felt that Irvine might need a little reminder about Rinoa's threat, he removed his gunblade from its sheath and lifted it on top of his lap with his left hand supporting the flat of the blade. His other hand lightly gripped the handle of his gunblade as he stared directly at Irvine.

Irvine immediately looked away and redirected his attention to Selphie, who was sitting next to him. "What were you saying about the Garden committee?"

Rinoa grinned at Squall as he replaced his gunblade, thankful that she wouldn't have to suffer a repeat of Seifer and Irvine's version of the morning's events. Both of them could hear Selphie chatter on and on about the next event hosted by the Garden committee.

Finished with his lunch, Squall got up and returned his tray to the counter. _I've got some stuff I have to study for. Maybe I'll go to the Library and read there. _He saw Seifer get up too, following him. Slowing his pace, he waited for Seifer.

Seifer spoke when he caught up to Squall. "Been meaning to talk to you."

"And?" Squall was in an oddly curious mood.

He shrugged. "Just wanted a chance to catch up. Didn't talk to you much yesterday. Like your classes?"

"They're fine. Most are boring as hell, though."

Seifer chuckled. "Lighten up, man. Why don't you sleep through them? I set a Garden record in the most hours unconscious in Magic Training. The only interesting moments are ones where we get to use our magic to kill something."

"And I thought you were a peace-loving student." A teasing tone could be heard in Squall's voice.

Seifer nearly choked when he heard that, an unbelieving expression on his face. "Who are you and what have you done to Squall?! Something big must have changed you enough for you to crack a joke. You finally woke up and got a girlfriend?"

"...What? This is _Squall_ you're talking to." _I can't picture myself dating any of the girls I ever knew. 'Sides, too many of them fawn all over me and I hate it._ He shuddered when he remembered one girl that was _quite aggressive in trying to get his attention._

"Oh, right. Squall Leonhart. The guy that all the girls like but he never even went out on a date or gave them a second glance. Damn, so many of the guys at Galbadia wished they were you. You had it made, man. Quite a few of the girls would jump into bed with you if you asked." His condescending smirk returned to his face.

"Hmph. I don't understand them. Hell, I don't understand most people."

"What do you think of Rinoa, then? Two days, and it seems like I've always seen you around with her." Seifer mentally berated himself. _Shit, too obvious. If he finds out that I'm trying to get him together with her, he's going to kill me. And she probably wouldn't be too happy about it either. Images of being slowly decapitated by Rinoa's Blaster Edge and Squall's gunblade filled his mind._

"Don't understand her. She seems to think I care."

Seifer breathed a sigh of relief. _Good, looks like he doesn't suspect. "Maybe she's right."_

"Whatever."

"Was wondering where the old puberty boy went."

Squall remembered the conversation that had occurred yesterday at dinner. "You didn't tell her the truth, even though I told everyone about your stuffed Chocobo."

"Yeah, well I have my reasons. Besides, you did do me a favor with all those girls." His smirk turned into a very perverted grin.

"Whatever. Need to go study." Squall proceeded toward the Library, ignoring a group of girls that started flirting with him the moment that his attention was off the conversation with Seifer.

Seifer walked off in the direction of the dorms, several girls stalking him.

~-~

A sudden noise made Rinoa look around as she walked into the library, searching for a quiet table with no distractions to study. Her eyes found a group of people that were partially hidden by the bookshelves that were cheering. She found an unoccupied table and dumped her notebooks there.

"Back off, new guy." A loud shout could be heard from where the crowd was.

She recognized the voice. It was that one guy that never took a hint.

_Tyler__. But what's he doing? Bullying someone like always, I bet._

Walking around the bookshelves to the back, she joined the crowd, trying to peer through the people standing in the way. A person was pinned against the wall, held at the neck by the person she knew as Tyler. He was a blonde who most described as a jerk. He had good looks and was quite tall, but that was pretty much all he had. Most of the students were afraid of him, mainly because he had his gang that would beat up anyone that stood him up.

From her vantage point in the crowd, she realized that the other person was Squall. And she saw that Squall didn't even attempt to get out of the neck-hold Tyler had on him.

"You think you're so great with all those girls that flirt with you, huh? And I've seen you around Rinoa so much. Rinoa's _my_ girl. Not yours. Get the hell away from her. _Understood?" Tyler's voice ebbed with anger and frustration from the lack of compliance that Squall showed._

Coldly, Squall stared directly back at the raging storm of emotions in the person holding him.

"Looks like I have to teach you a lesson, then." He nearly snarled those words, his rage finally at the breaking point. Releasing his grip on Squall's neck, he brought his fist back and aimed directly for Squall's face.

What surprised Rinoa was the speed with which Squall blocked the fist aimed at him. She stared at him as he did nothing to attack, only to defend. Punches and kicks aimed at him were quickly blocked or dodged. Extracting her gaze from the fight, she tried to move closer to the front row of the group by squeezing between people.

Thoroughly pissed, Tyler grabbed a chair from a nearby table, fully intending to throw it at Squall.

"Stop!" Rinoa had finally broken through the crowd, able to get within earshot of the two fighting. She glared directly at Tyler, wanting to hurt him. Both Tyler and Squall looked over at the person who had suddenly interfered with their fight. The group cheering the fight on suddenly silenced as they saw the person the fight was over had appeared.

"Rinoa, this doesn't concern you." Squall broke his silence that he had carried with him the entire time the confrontation was going on.

"Yes, it does. I won't let you get hurt because of me." She turned to Tyler.

"There you are, Rinoa. This guy here was –" The anger in Tyler's voice had died away, replaced by that flirting tone she always heard whenever he was talking to her.

She cut him off. "Shut up, _Tyler. I don't want to hear your version of the story. Whatever you're going to say isn't the truth." Stepping closer to him, she looked directly in his eyes. "Tell me the __truth."_

"As I was going to say, this guy here was talking about you to some people, saying that you were going to be another girl in the long line of his conquests." He grinned over at Squall in silent victory as Rinoa stayed silent, thinking about what she just heard. A hard slap on his face brought him back to reality.

She had pretended to think about it, to catch him off-guard. "Bastard. You think I'd believe that? I heard what you said to him before the fight. I was _never_ your girl. Go sleep with some slut." Walking over to Squall, Rinoa pulled on his arm. "Let's go." He grabbed his scattered books and they walked over to the table where Rinoa had dropped off her stuff and she quickly gathered it up. Neither of them looked back to the shocked Tyler that had one hand on his reddened cheek and the crowd staring at the backs of the two that had walked out. The chair he held dropped to the floor, clattering noisily.

"You didn't need to stop it." Squall's voice was slightly hesitant.

"But I knew that one of you two would get hurt before it was over, and I didn't want it to be you. I know what kind of person Tyler is. He's selfish and he always does stuff like that, which is why most girls avoid him. He never gets a clue. And he bullies people around with his gang, forcing others to give him what he wants." Her anger at Tyler hadn't entirely subsided yet, her veins still coursing with adrenaline.

She thought back to the event in the library. His actions during the fight confused her. "Why didn't you fight back? All you did was block or avoid his attacks."

"I never liked to hurt people." His voice had gotten a bit softer, like he was saying something he didn't want to admit to himself.

She stared at him, amazed that he would share something that personal about himself considering that he seemed somewhat shy, in addition to being detached.

Realizing the last thing he said, he turned away and tried to shut himself into his world. _Why would she want to be my friend? It's not like it ultimately matters. Nothing stops the inevitable. Having friends is great, but it's only temporary. They'll leave just like how Sis left. Seifer was one who called me a friend even though we were at each other's throats so much at the beginning. It hurt when he left too._

Aware of Squall's attention being elsewhere, Rinoa tried to bring him out of it. "Hey, I'm sorry for saying that. I know you hate it whenever you're the center of attention. What are you thinking about?" _I want to see the real you, not the one that's always hidden by that mask of indifference. I know what you show on your outside isn't who you are._

"Nothing."

_Go figure; so many guys would love to talk to me, but the one I want to talk to doesn't. _"Yeah, _right_." 

Squall said nothing in response to her sarcastic statement.

"Where are we going?" Looking around, she realized that they were following the circular path that connected the various sections of Garden together.

"I was heading for the dorms."

"So why were you in the library, anyways?"

"Needed to study."

"Oh. Hey, you can study with me if you'd like. I was going to study too, but Tyler made a mess of things in the library."

"Whatever." Again, Squall felt a bit confused at Rinoa's comments. _Why is she inviting me along? I don't get her. I don't need anyone._

"I'll take that as a yes. Tell me your dorm room number so I can find you."

_If I don't tell her, she'll probably bug me until I do_. Sighing, he felt that what he was going to do was a serious mistake. "A253."

"Okay! I'll meet you in like half an hour or so."

"Fine." _What am I getting myself into?_

~-~

A/N: Er, anyone bored of reading like 20 pages worth of stuff? *sees lots of raised hands* Thought so. I'll cut 'today' here, and continue it in the next chapter.

bembem: Well, there's nothing like getting another chapter done, is there? Thanks so much for reviewing and also beta-reading my chapters!


	3. Planning

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VIII and all its characters are property of SquareSoft.

**A Life Unlived** by remote_mine

Chapter Three – Planning

Rinoa tried to think of why she asked _Squall, of all people, to study with her. From what she knew of him, she would've expected him not to agree but he accepted anyway, confusing her to some extent. She banished those thoughts when she ran into Selphie while she was walking toward the dorm rooms._

"Hey Selphie!"

"Hey Rinoa! Whatcha up to?"

"Going to study with Squall."

Selphie gave Rinoa a knowing look. "Ooo. You like him, don't you?"

Rinoa's cheeks reddened slightly, making her wonder if what Selphie said was true. "No I don't."

"Suuuure. I'm really going to believe that. But you've got to admit, he's pretty hot." Selphie was as hyperactive as ever, nearly bouncing down the corridor.

"Yeah," she muttered, thinking about when she had seen Squall with his jacket off in the Infirmary. The memory of that event was so vivid; she could almost reach out and touch him...Nearly stumbling as she walked off a step, she realized that she had gotten lost in her thoughts of Squall.

"You know, Seifer said he's not attached."

"And that's relevant to me in what way?" she asked, hoping that Selphie wouldn't notice the slightly hopeful tone in her voice.

Selphie fidgeted a bit, mentally slapping herself for nearly revealing Seifer's idea to get Squall and Rinoa together. "Uh...well, I was thinking that you haven't had a boyfriend since Seifer, so maybe it's time that you get another one? I mean, we haven't talked about guys for _months."_

"Yeah, and I _really_ believe that he'd date me. I've seen the looks some of the other girls have given him. Some of which are girls who have quite a few guys drooling over, too. What are the chances that he'd go out with me?"

"So you've got to make your move soon! He's not going to be available for long!"

"That's another reason not to 'make my move.' "

"That's the spir–HEY! You can't give up like that!" She had been expecting something along the lines of 'Alright, I will!'

"Oh, yes I can. Watch me." Grinning devilishly, Rinoa watched Selphie's face flicker from surprise to exasperation.

With a pout, Selphie stormed off, looking for someone else to discuss the minor setback that had just occurred to the group's (excluding Squall and Rinoa that is) plan.

Rinoa could only stare at Selphie's retreating back in amazement, wondering what all that had been about. She turned her attention back to her current task at hand: getting to Squall's dorm room.

_A249...A251...A253._

Knocking on the door, she waited as she shifted the books in her hand and tried to distribute the weight more evenly. The door opened, revealing the face of Squall looking intently at her.

_Selphie was right...he is pretty hot._

Snapping out of her momentary loss of concentration, she smiled at him. "Ready?"

"Yes." His tone was as stiff as it always had been, making him sound like he was twenty-three or something. He pulled on his jacket and grabbed some books that had been sitting on his desk.

"Okay, let's go then."

They walked down the corridor, their boots clicking against the tiles - the only noise other than the ventilation system and random discussions from other students in the corridor.

Two people ran past them, the commotion making everyone in the vicinity turn toward the noise.

"Chicken-wuss! Give me that T-board!"

"No! You're not going to get your dirty hands on it!"

"Last warning, Chicken-wuss!"

Their voices faded off into the distance as Zell rounded a corner with his T-board clutched in both hands, Seifer in hot pursuit.

"Why's Seifer chasing Zell?"

"Oh, Seifer's on the Disciplinary Committee." At Squall's puzzled expression, she continued. "Seifer's the worst at following any rules ever made, so I think they put him on the committee because he would've had to been expelled otherwise. At least he does his job."

Squall digested the new information, trying to understand the odd logic behind it. It made sense, to some extent. _Who would've thought Seifer would enforce the rules._

They continued in silence after the minor disruption, exiting the dormitory area. As soon as they stepped within sight of the fountain, Rinoa turned to Squall. "Where do you want to study?"

He shrugged. "I don't care."

"How about the Quad, then? I didn't show it to you earlier." Rinoa led the way, passing a group of girls by the Cafeteria that glared jealously at her.

"Oh, crap." Squall muttered under his breath, seeing the expressions of the girls and recognizing a couple from his classes. _When will anyone__ realize that I don't want to be in a relationship?_

Entering the Quad, the summer sun beat down on them as they walked down the steps toward the stage. There were other people there, their conversations a wave of noise that could not be interpreted.

Rinoa sat down under some shade, gesturing for Squall to sit next to her. He sat close enough that he could hear her, but not too close.

"So what were you going to study?"

"History of Balamb." He flipped open the book he was carrying, finding the page that he had been reading before that guy – _What was his name? __Tyler__? – tried to beat him up. Sighing at the memories, he handed the book to Rinoa and she started asking him questions._

~-~

The two sitting figures were completely oblivious to a couple of people not too far from them. Irvine and Selphie watched the pair study.

"Huh. I wonder if Seifer's right about Squall and Rinoa."

"Well, from what Seifer said, he's totally cold and never thinks of girls beyond the fact that they're human." Selphie answered in response.

Irvine's brow furrowed at that comment. "Wait, you don't think he's gay, is he? I mean, a guy who never pays attention to girls would ha–"

"Oh shut up, Irvine. You just spend a disproportional amount of time thinking about girls. Tell me, how many girls have you slept with?"

His face grew red when he heard that question, and he answered in a very quiet voice. "None."

Selphie's eyes nearly bulged out. "What?! I was thinking like thirty."

"Don't tell anyone, or else it'll ruin my reputation as a ladies man."

"Feh. Anyways, back to Squall and Rinoa."

Irvine put his hands behind his head. "So yeah, look at 'em. Sitting together, studying. Wow. Amazing. Entertaining. I see stuff like that everyday, so what's so special about them?"

An odd observation came to Selphie as she looked at the two. "How come they're the only ones who don't wear uniforms?"

"What?" Irvine looked at them again, and then turned his gaze to the other students in the Quad. "That is odd." He glanced down at his own trench coat. "Wait. We're not wearing uniforms either."

"Yes, and since we're the only ones without uniforms, that means we're going to save the world from an evil sorceress, right?"

"And in the process Squall and Rinoa fall madly in love with each other!"

Both of them looked at each other for a moment before they burst out laughing. Selphie finally spoke after calming herself down. "Anyways...well, we've got to get them together somehow."

"You're the girl, not me. Work your magic. Voodoo Squall or something. I have no experience whatsoever with making two people fall in love. Maybe tell Rinoa to go up to him and hypnotize him by saying 'You're-going-to-like-me. You're-going-to-like-me.' "

She peeked around the edge of a group of students again at the couple, and for a moment she froze as Squall's gaze suddenly fell on her. "Eep!" She squealed, ducking back to escape his gaze.

"What?"

"I think Squall just saw me!"

"How could he have seen you?" Irvine's expression showed puzzlement.

"I don't know! It was sort of creepy. He was just looking off in some other direction and he suddenly turned his head toward me as if he knew that someone was staring at him."

They could have been caught, and both knew that it wouldn't be pretty. The next thing they saw was Rinoa and Squall walking toward them from where they had been sitting. Squall had his expression of indifference as always on his face and Rinoa looked as cheery as she had before, except this time with a bit of suspicion in her features.

Selphie and Irvine immediately pretended that they hadn't been watching, but it was a futile attempt; they had definitely been caught.

"Alright, what are you two doing here?" Rinoa's voice had a definite edge to it, making Selphie and Irvine look at her.

"Nothing! I was just...um, taking a walk with Irvine!"

"Uh huh. And may I ask why Squall told me he saw you looking at us?"

"You saw h–" Irvine's exclamation was immediately cut off as both of Selphie's hands had suddenly clamped down on his mouth.

Selphie's eyes grew wide as she realized that she had been seen by Squall. Nervously, she tried to cover up what could've been disastrous if Irvine actually had spoken. "What he meant to say was that it was just a coincidence running into you guys here."

During this entire conversation, Squall had been patiently standing off to the side without looking at anything in specific. He was thinking about Selphie's expression when he had glanced toward her, and knew that it wasn't merely a coincidence. He had a nagging feeling that there was something afoot hidden from him that the rest of the group he hung out with knew, and he wasn't exactly sure that he wanted to know.

Rinoa rolled her eyes at the obvious signs that _someone was definitely lying. "__Right. And it's just a coincidence that you, Selphie, had run into me earlier and I had told you I was going to study with Squall. Now you just happen to be watching us. I want an explanation."_

Exasperated and more than a little fearful of what would happen if Rinoa and Squall found out, she tried to shrug it off. "There's nothing to explain! Look, Rinoa, I told you I was just having a walk with Irvine!"

"Uh...huh."

Knowing that this definitely wasn't going to work, Selphie immediately released her hold on Irvine's mouth and grabbed his hand. Both knowing they had screwed up royally, Selphie shouted over her shoulder as she dragged Irvine off. "See you later!"

She glanced at her companion who appeared lost in thought. "Squall?"

"What?" He took his eyes away from his surroundings and focused them on her.

She looked at him surprised. Rinoa thought that he wasn't going to respond, judging from the way that he had been looking like he was in his own little world. "That was interesting, to say the least."

"They're planning something. What it is, I don't know yet. And I'm not too sure I want to find out."

She gave him a look of curiosity. "Why not?"

"It's none of my business, for one thing."

"Well, hey! C'mon, I want to see what they're trying to do. Somehow, I get the feeling that it has to do with us. _That makes me want to find out even more, considering the way they'd been acting earlier."_

"Are you sure you want to find out? What if you found out, but then wished you hadn't?"

"I'm sure I want to. Why don't you help me?" Rinoa saw Squall's slightly surprised expression that clearly stated 'Are you kidding me?' so she continued. "Just live a little!"

"...You don't give up, do you?"

"Nope! Rinoa Heartilly _always gets what she wants." She gave him a grin when he rolled his eyes. "Let's go. Break's almost over."_

~-~

She muttered under her breath as she slipped in and out of consciousness. The droning of the instructor's voice was almost like a lullaby, nearly making her fall asleep. Half awake, she jotted down some more notes about Junctioning before looking around the room and seeing that most of the class was either asleep or struggling to keep their eyes open.

Rinoa stretched out, accidentally raising her arm high enough that the Instructor took it for her wanting to ask a question. 

"Yes, Rinoa?"

_Oh, shit. What was the last thing that she said?_ "Uh, could you explain how the Guardian Forces strengthen us when we Junction magic?"

Selphie, who was also in the class, gave Rinoa a sleepy grin knowing that no one actually cared about how Junctioning worked, except for the tests. It was merely BSing skills coming into play.

"Junctioning is not as it seems. The reality behind the strengthening through magic junctioning is merely a Guardian Force making you believe that you are stronger in your mind. If you believe that it makes you..." Rinoa fell asleep along with Selphie, the droning voice finally making them lose consciousness.

Rinoa was rudely awakened when Selphie 'accidentally' bumped into Rinoa so as not to draw the teacher's attention that there were people who did not stay awake and pay attention in class.

Selphie gave Rinoa another devious grin. "Dreaming about Squall?"

Indignant at having to put up with Selphie's teasing the entire day, she gathered her books. "No, in fact I was thinking about how hot Irvine is."

"Hey! He's _my_ boyfriend!"

"Then stop talking about Squall. It sounds like _you're the one that wants him."_

"So...why don't you go out with Squall? I can't annoy you about him then, can I?"

_Hrm...might be a good idea._ Rinoa mentally shook herself as she realized quite belatedly what she had just thought. _Squall, as a boyfriend? He doesn't even look at girls!_

"If it makes you any happier, I'll admit that he's hot and could make a nice boyfriend for some girl, if he wasn't so cold. Okay?"

She completely missed Selphie's delighted grin that had sprung on her face. "That's better. I thought you were starting to lose your eye for guys."

Walking out the door, she retorted. "Oh, just look at him, Selphie! Think about how many girls already want him. You even said yourself that he's not going to be available very long."

"And if you'd recall, I told you to make your move now. You know, the only girl I've seen him with was you."

"And that's supposed to mean something?"

"Of course! I mean, there are a lot of guys that like you too, you know."

"So?"

Giving Rinoa a look of irritation, Selphie sighed. "Are you just playing with me? Don't you know?"

"No."

"You're being blind. Remember Tyler? Word about that fight in the library got out already, and they said that Tyler got his ass kicked." Rinoa said nothing, so Selphie continued. "If Squall's your boyfriend, no one would even try to hit on you."

"Hmph."

"Rinoa! Just think about the benefits! First, protection from any other guy that would dare hit on you. Next, he's hot. Definitely a plus. Third, I bet he has a great body..."

That last comment seriously disturbed Rinoa, as hearing that had immediately brought to her mind of how Squall looked like in the Infirmary with just his undershirt on. And how his skin would feel under her touch. Just thinking about it sent a few shivers down her spine before she stopped her thoughts from running rampant and going too far. Trying to take her thoughts off of Squall being half-naked, she responded. "So why don't _you go after him?"_

"Because Irvine's perfectly fine for me. _You're_ the one that needs a boyfriend."

Finally reaching the point where they had to go their separate directions, Rinoa walked toward the elevator while Selphie headed for another corridor and yelled over her shoulder. "Catch ya later!"

Hitting the button for the first floor, Rinoa mentally reviewed the list of things that she had to do.

_Let's see, Garden Committee has something coming up, better check that I don't have anything to interfere with next week. Projects, homework, blah blah. At least the weekend's coming up. I sorta wish that the SeeD Test was sooner...then there's no more waking up early, but I'd probably get assigned a mission somewhere and won't be able to see my friends._

She stepped out of the elevator and headed for her next class, which was inconveniently located in the Training Center: Combat Training.

After taking her weapon from her room, she walked to the Training Center. The familiar sticky and hot humid air clung to her skin, making her itchy. Rubbing her arms absentmindedly, she stepped just inside the entrance where she could see several students talking with each other. Rinoa had found a couple of her friends and started talking with them about various topics, ranging from homework to weekend plans.

The moment their temporary instructor had come, he immediately ordered them to remove all junctions and to do twenty push-ups. Most of the students grumbled as they did what they were told.

Rinoa immediately unjunctioned the GF Siren, feeling a momentary dizziness as her magical capabilities were weakened. Gaining back her senses, she immediately did her pushups.

"Alright cadets, we're practicing Drawing today. Since all you've been doing so far has been Drawing in non-combat situations, we're going to see how well you perform in the middle of live-combat." His voice barked out orders that they immediately followed, setting up a magic barrier to prevent other monsters from interfering while they were busy practicing. The students rejunctioned their GFs and immediately made sure that they had the Draw command ability in use.

The instructor let in a couple of Grats, which were as far from the students as possible, while inside the magic barrier. Shouting out a cadet's name, one student immediately engaged combat with the Grat and drew a few spells from it. Right after disengaging combat, the student gave the spells to the instructor.

Student after student went through the line, finally getting to Rinoa's turn. The moment she stepped up and engaged combat with the Grat, it immediately whipped out a tentacle towards her leg. Quickly stepping back, she dodged it and focused her mind on Drawing. Searching for the tell-tale magical signature, she sensed several types of spells and chose one at random. Several white balls of light streaked from the monster to Rinoa, and it shuddered as the spells were torn from it. The name of the spell came unbidden to her when she touched it with her thoughts.

_Confuse?_

Just like the other students, she immediately retreated and gave the spells to the instructor who had been watching the process with virtually no expression.

His expression changed to that of a frown as he realized exactly what spells she had given him. "Cadet Heartilly?"

_Uhoh__. Did I do something wrong? "Yes?"_

"I haven't seen anyone else been able to draw Confuse from a Grat before."

Curiosity gnawing at her, Rinoa tried to keep her expression straight. "What spell was I supposed to draw?"

"That's fine. Confuse is quite a hard spell to draw from a Grat. You're a natural with magic."

Elated, Rinoa couldn't help but give her friends a grin as she told them what had just happened.

~-~

Squall slammed his book shut as the teacher dismissed the class. Finally; the weekend was here, and there were no classes or else everyone would go mad. Too bad it was just one day though. Picking up the rest of his assorted class-stuff, he stepped outside the door and was immediately greeted by a very bouncy and cheerful Selphie. Two questions had immediately popped to mind when he saw her.

_What's Selphie doing here? What was up with her and __Irvine_ when I was studying with Rinoa?__

His first question was nearly immediately answered as Selphie spoke. "Squall! Quistis told me I'd find you here. Anyways, I was wondering if I could convince you to join the Garden Committee."

He gave her no response, looking away from her.

They walked down the corridor, drawing a few odd stares in the obvious difference in the attitudes between the two. Selphie, hyperactive and fun compared with to the composed Squall, serious to a fault.

Oblivious to the attention granted by everyone else, Selphie immediately launched into her full-on attack. "Please? We only meet once a week."

"No."

"C'mon!"

He gave her a look of irritation and amusement as Selphie had, for the moment, definitely reminded him of Rinoa. "My answer's no, and that's final."

She pouted, wondering why he was so insistent in not joining. "Hmph. Well, anyways, there's something else I was going to ask you anyways. If you weren't busy, we were wondering if you'd like to come with us to Balamb tomorrow."

"I don't think so."

"Fine. I'll get Seifer, Rinoa, Quistis, Irvine and Zell to drag you along, then."

He weighed the options in less than a second. The mere mention of Seifer and Rinoa's names already made him know what could happen. "...Either I die, or I go."

"Ha! So you're coming?"

Resigned, he sighed as he looked at the wall. "Looks like I have no choice."

"Booyaka! Seifer is gonna be so happy!"

"Seifer?"

"Well, see you!" Selphie immediately ran off down another corner, which led directly toward the dorms.

Not for the first time since coming here, Squall could only wonder at what was going on behind his back. He knew that something was going on, and he hadn't the slightest clue what. Shrugging the thoughts off as none of his concern, he continued his trek down to the Cafeteria. It was right before seven, and for some reason he was already feeling hungry.

The sight when he entered the Cafeteria was one that most guys would be jealous of, except him. A large crowd of girls were huddled around Seifer, and he was talking animatedly about something and wildly gesturing with his hands.

_Loves attention, doesn't he? _Squall was struck by the irony of the situation; Seifer was alike him in some ways, yet completely different overall. Seifer craved attention; Squall loathed it. Seifer was quite passionate; Squall, indifferent.__

Getting some food, he paid for it and sat at a table not far from Seifer, watching as many of the girls flirted with Seifer. It was amusing to watch to some extent; Seifer drank up the compliments and even took up a few on offers for a date.

His quiet thinking was interrupted as Irvine and Selphie had joined his table. The first thing Squall and Selphie noticed was the jealous look Irvine was giving Seifer.

To bring Irvine back from his little world, Selphie interrupted the silence. "Hey Irvine, you have a girlfriend, right? Like the girl that's sitting next to you, known as me?"

Caught, Irvine gave Selphie a sheepish grin. "Yes...but I can't help but check out pretty ladies, you know?"

Selphie jabbed her elbow into Irvine's gut, drawing an 'oof' from him as he had looked back over to the group again. Irvine immediately stopped staring over at the group and instead focused his attention solely on Selphie. "Sorry! It's just habit!"

"Well, considering what you said earlier, I'll believe you...for now."

Their conversation degenerated into comments that could only be described by one word: sappy.

Rinoa, Zell and Quistis soon arrived with their dinners and also took seats at the table. The moment everyone was there, Selphie addressed the group. "I was able to convince Mr. 'I-don't-like-to-have-fun' here that it would be in his best interest to come with us tomorrow when we go to Balamb." Rinoa looked at her with an obvious 'How'd you manage that?' look on her face.

As Selphie was sitting next to Rinoa, she whispered into her ear. "Yeah, Squall's got the hots for you. I just mentioned your name and he's like 'I'm there!'"

"Like I'm going to believe that." But Rinoa couldn't stop herself from wondering if it was possible.

"Fine. I just mentioned that all of us were going to drag him along."

"That's more like it."

Finally done making arrangements with his new fan-club, Seifer grabbed a chair at their table and sat down. Selphie told him that Squall was going to join them when they went to Balamb.

Squall and Rinoa were preoccupied at that moment eating their dinner, so they missed the knowing grins that the rest of the table members shared with each other.

Getting the group's attention, Selphie outlined the plans for tomorrow. "Well, we don't have any classes tomorrow so we'll go to Balamb for most of the day. Anyone have any suggestions as to what we're going to do there?"

Zell spoke up. "Yeah, I wanna visit my Ma!"

"Okay, we'll stop by there. And then...?"

It was Seifer who gave the next suggestion. "How about stopping by that new movie theater that they finished pretty recently?"

"Stop by Ma's, movies, what else?"

Glancing up from her food, Rinoa responded this time. "How 'bout we see when we get there?"

"Alright."

~-~

A/N: I hate myself. I had vowed that I would get this chapter done more than half a month ago. Which obviously did not happen. Anyways, finally sat down and finished it. If it's not funny or something, tell me. I have a _very_ twisted sense of humor.

bembem: Thanks to your dedication and willingness to beta-read my chapters, I've actually gone somewhere with my stories. I can't thank you enough! Especially for catching all my errors; some of them are horrible! Update your fics soon (especially 'Falling For You')!

elanor tinuviel: Wow. Thanks so much for sitting through my entire fic and reading through it plus beta-reading it! Especially for your ideas and suggestions for how I'm going to develop the Rinoa/Squall relationship in making it sound believable. Thanks again, especially for your prompt reply to my request. Sorry about that, but I realized that it was nearing a month and a half since I updated it! (I'm worse than most at updating, huh?)

Noacat: Updated, finally. I actually had this chapter 'done' before those two one-shots...odd, huh? Thanks for those reviews on those one-shots too!

Fantasy-dreamer88: And here's another chapter thrown into the fray...at least this time it's only 12 (and a seventh) pages instead of 20. Enjoy.

lps: Here's the next chapter! I really should update more often, huh?

Duncan Hay: Thanks for the review!

Rinoa36: Thanks for being a dedicated reviewer of my works! Means a lot to me!

Cassandra: Heh! Just remember Squall belongs to Rinoa!

BerlinBrownEyes: Wow. I didn't know my writing could do that...well, I hope that you enjoy this chapter too!


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